


the eyes of a stranger

by EmeraldTulip



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Amnesia, Gen, Idiots in Love, M/M, POV Alternating, Possession, Post-Canon, Siblings Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Slow Burn, Will Byers Has Powers, idiot boys, publishing before s3 comes out and ruins the continuity ive built in my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 14:11:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19443049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldTulip/pseuds/EmeraldTulip
Summary: “Leave her alone!” another voice yells from somewhere out of Max’s line of sight, and with a sharp snapping noise the shadow monster falls back.Max hears a sharp breath fall from Mike’s lips the moment Will steps into sight. The air around him seems tomove, to crackle with static, and his eyes are dark and furious. There’s blood under his nose. “El, you have to—”The monster lunges at him, and time seems to stop for a moment.Max puts the pieces together all at once: 1. The serum worked. The monster can’t possess El. 2. Will definitely has powers. 3. The monster is going to take Will instead.





	the eyes of a stranger

**Author's Note:**

> season 3 comes out in like three days so!! gotta go fast!!  
> anyway. this takes place during their junior year of high school. jopper is tentatively canon - el ships it lol  
> so! yeah hope y'all enjoy.

“So,” Mike says, breaking the semi-awkward silence. “How does it work?”

The Party are sitting in a circle, cross-legged on the floor. It reminds Mike of show and tell, like when they were in elementary school, except now the object they’re sharing is… dangerous, to say the least.

Will weighs it in his hand before passing it to Lucas. “Dr. Owens said it can counteract the Mind Flayer’s effects. I don’t really know for sure, but Five’s powers had something to do with fire. Owens said something about proteins in his blood, and that injecting this will mimic Five’s fire powers—since the Mind Flayer doesn’t like heat…”

“If this is in your bloodstream the monster can’t possess you?” Dustin guesses, peering at the device.

Will nods in agreement. “Something like that.”

Max gingerly accepts the syringe from Dustin’s outstretched hand, squinting at it. “But there’s so little.” She looks over at El. “Is there enough for all of us?”

“No,” El says simply. “One shot for one person.”

“Can’t we make another batch?” Lucas asks. “I mean, if this is from Five’s blood, we can just take more.”

“No,” El says again, though her eyes have gone sad. “There was only enough blood taken from him when he was alive for one test sample, and then this.”

Will bites his lip, clearly trying to figure out how to tactfully speak about Eleven’s dead brother. “We do have plenty in the lab, but the proteins aren’t useful anymore since the blood’s from the murder site.”

“So who’s gonna take it?” Mike finally asks as El hands it to him. He holds it up, watching the muddy brown color turn red as the light passes through. He can’t imagine taking this himself.

And, selfishly, he can only come up with one name when he asks himself who he _would_ give it to. It isn’t Max, Lucas, or Dustin. It isn’t even El.

“I think we need to be strategic about it,” Lucas suggests, because obviously he doesn’t have quite the emotional qualms that Mike does. “Who are our biggest targets?”

This one is obvious—there are only two people in the circle who have come in direct contact with the monster before. Will shifts awkwardly and Mike starts to reach out to him, to touch his shoulder, to comfort him.

“Give it to El,” Will says, and Mike’s hand freezes where it is just raised off of his knee.

“What?” It slips from his mouth without him even thinking about it, sounding too distraught. He mentally slaps himself, scrambling to salvage it. “I mean, Will, it’s already possessed you, no way it doesn’t try again!”

“But if it gets El, it gets her powers,” Will reasons. “We can’t risk that.”

“ _You_ have powers!” Mike argues.

Will sighs exasperatedly. “A light has turned on when I walked into a room once or twice. That doesn’t mean I have powers, it just means Owens wants to test me more. And we need El in her own mind to actually shove the thing into the trap anyway, because god knows none of the rest of us can do it.”

“But—”

“ _Mike_.” Will’s voice isn’t loud, or angry, but it’s firm. It brings Mike back to reality—a reality where Max is staring at them curiously, Dustin is fidgeting uncomfortably, Lucas is frowning, and El has a soft look in her eyes.

“Sorry,” he mutters, casting his eyes to the floor. “I just…”

He can’t finish the sentence, because he doesn’t know what _he just_.

“It’s El’s. Alright?” It’s not a question, it’s a statement, but Will has the decency enough to make them feel like it was a group decision. He stands, holds his hand out for El to take. “Let’s go get Dr. Owens.”

She takes his hand and he hoists her up, and Mike feels frozen as he watches them go.

* * *

“Run, Mike!” Max yells as she bolts from behind a tree, snagging Mike’s hand as she passes. He stumbles after her, and she’s grateful she ran when she did: a smoky orb explodes, moments later, right where he’d been standing.

She tugs him into an alcove that’s been formed between a fallen tree and a rock, kneeling to look through an opening near her feet.

“What’s going on out there?” Mike asks, barely above a whisper.

“I don’t see El,” Max answers, brow creased with worry. “I thought she’d be out there by now, or at least—oh!”

Her thought is cut off when she spots a figure move in the trees a few feet away. It’s El, crouching behind a bush as her hands move slowly—manipulating the forest around her, Max realizes.

“What?” Mike presses forward, trying to see as well.

“I see her,” Max says excitedly. “She’s trying to make an opening, I think.”

Their voices must have gotten too loud, because all of a sudden there’s another dark orb hurtling in their direction, and Mike barely manages to tug Max back before the smoke collides and dissipates against their stone shield.

“Hey, Max,” Mike says after a moment, voice shaking. “Just in case we die, I want to say sorry for all the stupid stuff I said to you when we first met.”

“Thanks,” Max says, squeezing his hand. Her voice is shaking, too, as much as she tries to control it. “Sorry for not listening to you at first. You’re a good leader, I should have trusted you.”

“Sorry to break up the moment, but that was years ago and let’s _not_ die please,” Dustin pops up out of nowhere, gesturing for them both to follow him. Max does so with no hesitation, still pulling on Mike’s hand, but a loud screech distracts her. She whips around just in time to see a column of black smoke descend on El.

Mike screams, her name half-formed on his lips, and Max knows it’s serious. Mike is reverting into full panic mode.

“No, no, she’ll be fine,” Dustin mutters, only sounding half convinced. “The serum is gonna work.”

“Then _why_ do I only see smoke?” Mike snaps before instantly muttering, “sorry.”

Max smacks him on the shoulder, cutting off his mumbled apology. “Look,” she says, pointing. “I think she’s doing something.”

Max can see the dark cloud twisting and spasming, as if it’s trying to move but can’t. El’s bright shirt slowly but surely emerges from the cloud, and Max can see that her arms are raised and steady.

“Lucas,” El says, her voice somehow cutting through the howling wind. “Open the trap.”

Lucas, who’s crouched in a tree on the opposite side of El, does so. Max watches the latch fall open and hears the teched-out case whir to life.

“She’s doing it,” Mike murmurs in wonder.

Of course, as soon as he says it everything goes wrong.

The monster screeches again, shrill and unearthly, and jerks in El’s invisible grasp. A shadowy tendril smacks her right across the chest and sends her sprawling. There’s a sharp _crack_ as her ankle twists beneath her, loud enough so that Max can hear it even standing several feet away.

“No!” she shouts, her body moving forward before she can stop herself. Dustin manages to catch her arm just before she runs right into the monster’s blast zone. “Dustin—!”

The shadow rears up, like a snake poised to strike, and El struggles to aim a blast at it. It only delays the monster a moment.

“Leave her alone!” another voice yells, from somewhere out of Max’s line of sight, and with a sharp snapping noise the shadow monster falls back.

Max hears a sharp breath fall from Mike’s lips the moment Will steps into sight. The air around him seems to _move_ , to crackle with static, and his eyes are dark and furious. There’s blood under his nose. “El, you have to—”

The monster lunges at him, and time seems to stop for a moment.

Max puts the pieces together all at once: 1. The serum worked. The monster can’t possess El. 2. Will definitely has powers. 3. Shit, the monster is going to take Will instead.

That’s exactly what happens. Will’s body doubles over as black smoke starts to seep into his skin. He yells, both in shock and in pain. “El!”

A choked noise breaks free from Mike’s throat and he stumbles forward, and though Max tries to stop him, he just pulls her along.

“Mike,” she pleads uselessly. “You can’t, it’s dangerous—”

“It’s _Will_ ,” he insists evenly, eyes fixed on Will’s shivering form as he’s flung onto the ground by an unseen force.

“I’m sorry,” El gasps as they approach her, and Max helps her sit up. “I thought did it. Thought I could do it.”

Will full-body shudders, his fists clenching as he drags himself into a sitting position against a tree. “El, get it out of me. _Please_ , we almost have it.”

“I could hurt you,” El says, and there are tears in her eyes.

Will groans, low and pained. “Yeah, well. It’s already doing that.” He can clearly see the hesitation in her eyes, so he repeats, “please.” His words are tinged with a voice that isn’t his, a creature trying to manipulate his vocal chords, and that seems to trigger something in El.

She reaches out a hand and closes her fingers into a fist, her eyelids sliding closed. Will lets out another noise of fear and agony, and Mike tries to move closer to him.

“No!” Will shouts as soon as Mike takes a step. “Get any closer and it’ll take you, too.”

There’s hurt in Mike’s eyes at being yelled at by Will, but he nods nonetheless and retreats, pulling Max back with him. They watch as El seems to reach beneath Will’s skin, and Will’s eyes roll into his head.

 _Please don’t be dead,_ Max thinks instantly. _Please just be passed out. Please._

El’s fist seems to glow, almost, as the shadows darken around Will’s limp body. Her grip, still somewhere in Will’s mind itself, is finally pulled free—and with it, she rips out a layer of darkness.

There’s a dark, angry sound, almost like a swarm of bees, but El seems to pay it no mind. She raises her other hand and places it over her fist, forcing the smoke into a ball. Blood is dripping from her face onto the forest floor by now, but she doesn’t seem to care as she guides the smoke into the box.

“Lucas, close it,” she orders succinctly, and he listens.

The moment the latches click shut, El’s moment breaks. She falls back to the ground, not unconscious but disoriented. Max approaches her cautiously, noting the way the sky reflects in her eyes and the fact that there’s a spark of recognition there. That’s a good sign.

“I think,” El says slowly, carefully, and Max can tell she’s trying not to slur her words. “I think you should take me and Will to the hospital.”

* * *

It’s only when she wakes up to white light and a persistent beeping sound that El realizes she must have passed out.

Grimacing, she turns her head to find her dad sitting in a chair beside her, head in one hand. He appears to be sleeping. She struggles to sit up, the cast on her leg weighing her down.

“Um,” El says, coughing a little, and that seems to wake him up.

“Jane Elizabeth Hopper,” he scolds immediately, not a trace of sleepiness on his face. “What have I told you about hospitals?”

“Don’t do anything that would mean I end up in one,” El recites, pouting at him. “I _know_ , but this was important!”

He sighs. “I know. Doesn’t mean I like it—definitely doesn’t mean Joyce likes it, either.”

“Joyce?” El frowns, because she’s not sure what Joyce has to do with anything. She’s not her mom (not yet, anyway).

Her dad looks at her incredulously. “Uh, yeah? This is like the fifth time her son has ended up staying in the hospital because of the stunts you all pull.”

“Wait, Will’s still here?” El asks. “How long has it been?”

“Only about four hours since you guys got here; I got the call to come get you an hour before that,” he explains. “But Will’s not looking good, the doctors are keeping him for at least a few days. You’re free to leave tomorrow.”

That’s relieving for her, at least, but certainly concerning for Will. “What do you mean, ‘he’s not looking good’?”

The sympathetic look on his face chills her to her core.

* * *

When Will wakes up, his first question is expected: “Where am I?”

His second question, not so much.

“What am I doing here?”

Mike frowns at him. “Will, you got hit pretty bad.”

Will frowns right back at him. “Hit?”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Mike emphasizes. “The Mind Flayer? It came right at you, remember?”

“What?” Will replies, looking genuinely confused. “No.”

Mike can feel the panic starting to rise in his throat, bubbling to the surface. “Will. You tried to protect El from the Mind Flayer using your powers, and it possessed you again. El managed to force it into the trap. _Remember_?”

“No,” Will insists. “I don’t remember any of that. And I don’t have powers, I thought we covered this already!”

“You _do_ have powers, I saw it—wait.” Mike realizes something. “You remember talking about your powers?”

“Like a week ago, you asked me if Owens had figured out if I had abilities, and I said no,” Will says. “So yeah, we covered this.”

Mike forces his jaw to unclench. “Do you remember talking about that earlier today, too? When we were talking about the serum?”

Will tilts his head. “What serum?” he asks.

* * *

The doctors have tentatively labeled it short-term memory loss. Mike isn’t so sure, but what does he know? He’s just a seventeen-year-old kid, not a neuroscientist.

“I suggest he stays here for a few more days, so we can monitor him,” Mike overhears a doctor tell Joyce. “His scans have all come back normal, but he is a little disoriented.”

Dustin is standing next to him while the conversation is happening, but doesn’t seem to worry as much about it as Mike does.

“I’m worried,” Mike insists as they head back to the waiting room where Max, Lucas, and Jonathan are. “You didn’t hear him, Dustin, he genuinely _didn’t_ know what had happened.”

“And maybe that’s for the best,” Dustin counters. “Brains can block out traumatic memories to protect themselves. Will’s fine, Mike, he just needs to rest.”

* * *

Will may be fine, but Mike certainly isn’t. Lucas notices how jumpy he is, how every noise is something to be looked into. The two of them are sitting in Lucas’ house, playing video games, but Mike isn’t really paying attention.

“Jesus, Mike,” he finally sighs after Mike gets up to check the door for the third time, glancing outside. “It’s the wind. I know you wish it was Will, but…”

Maybe he phrased it weirdly, because Mike whirls on him, cheeks slightly pink. “I’m just _worried_ , Lucas, okay?”

Lucas is a little taken aback. Mike’s cooled down some since his “moody teen” phase—he hasn’t had an outburst like this in a while.

“Sorry,” Mike mutters, and Lucas tries to shrug him off. “No, _Lucas_ , listen to me. I am sorry. I’m just worried. I hope he comes home soon.”

“We all do, buddy,” Lucas tries to assure him. “But it’s only been a day; give it time. Now come back here and help me beat this level.”

* * *

El’s waiting for Will when he’s finally discharged.

“Ah, there he is!” she grins as he walks into the lobby, hoisting herself out of her chair. Her leg has healed remarkably fast, though she still has a brace on. “How’s the best almost-brother in the world feeling?”

“I dunno, ask the Party,” Will jokes back.

El shakes her head. “Dad and Joyce are gonna get together any day now, and then you’ll be my actual brother, so that gives you a leg up.” She grins again, trying to emit an aura of innocence. “But don’t repeat that.” She links arms with him and pulls him outside.

“Where’d Mom park?” Will asks, glancing around the parking lot.

“She didn’t,” El says. “I drove, I’m gonna take you home. We talked about this, remember?”

Will shrugs. “Oh, I guess so.”

El unlinks arms with Will so she can dig through her pocket for her keys as they walk down the line of cars. Dr. Owens had given Will and El a car to share as part of a settlement with the Lab. Neither of them had particularly wanted it until they realized how useful it could be—it’s a silver Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, now El’s pride and joy. They’ve dubbed it Magneto.

She stops in front of her car, pulling her keys from her pocket. That’s when she notices that Will is no longer by her side.

“Hey,” she calls after him. He’s a few steps away, looking down the row of cars. “Where are you going?”

Will turns to look at her, frowning. “What?”

El gestures to Magneto a little more exuberantly than she probably needs to. “Our car? We’re going home, right?”

Will’s frown deepens slightly as he walks the few steps back. “I… yeah. Home.”

“Will, you’re being weird,” El says, because he is.

He just shrugs and walks to the passenger’s seat.

* * *

“I never thought I would say this,” Dustin begins, “but I’m tired of summer.”

“And as soon as we go back to school you’re gonna start complaining again,” Max teases, and he knows she’s right.

Even though their fight with the Mind Flayer was just over a week ago, and the Lab still hasn’t reached out to them with their findings while studying the creature, Dustin is _bored_. Fighting monsters nonstop for the last few years has spoiled him.

“We could _try_ actually doing something,” Lucas suggests, and Dustin has to roll his eyes.

“Okay, Lucas, you logical human, damn you. What do you think we should do?” he quips.

Lucas fixes him with a challenging stare. “Well, if you’re so desperate to do something, you could always do your summer homework—”

“No!”

“Boo!”

He’s cut off by a tirade of incredulous comments (and by a pillow hitting his face, thrown by El). He waves it off. “ _Obviously_ I’m kidding, Dustin would never.”

Dustin kicks him.

“We could play a game,” Will says as Lucas sticks his tongue out at Dustin.

“The arcade is closed for repairs this month,” Max sighs.

“And my Atari is busted,” Mike agrees. “Holly broke it last week. I don’t think even Will could zap it back to life.”

“Monopoly?” El asks. “I saw that on the shelf over there.”

“El,” Max says bluntly, “I will scream if we play Monopoly. Our friendships will crumble.”

Dustin hums. “We could play D&D.” Max raises an eyebrow, skeptical, and Dustin rushes to defend himself. “It’ll be fun! We haven’t played in a while, and it’ll fill up some time.”

“I’m down,” Mike shrugs, and El nods in agreement.

Lucas shrugs as well. “Yeah, sounds fun,” he says, and Max seems to cave.

“Will?” Mike asks, looking over at him. He’s been oddly quiet; they’re all starting to notice. “Is that cool with you?”

Will’s eyebrows are furrowed. His mouth opens, but no words come out.

“Will?” El repeats, her fingers pressing into his arm.

He seems to jolt into consciousness at the touch. “Oh,” he says. “I, uh. Don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

Dustin scrunches his face up in confusion. “We’re asking if D&D is cool with you.”

“No, I know,” Will shakes his head. “I just… don’t know what that is.”

* * *

“His brain scans seem fine,” Dr. Owens says.

“He’s _not_ fine,” El snaps. Joyce has a death grip on one of the arms of her chair, and El is squeezing her other hand. “I didn’t even want to leave him alone today. He can’t remember the name of his favorite game. He can’t remember our car. He can’t remember the whole day we fought the monster. What else could he be forgetting?”

“We don’t know,” Owens tells them gently. “We just have to wait and see.”

“And what good is that going to do for us?” El demands. “How will that help him?”

Joyce squeezes her hand, and El quiets down. Getting angry isn’t going to help anyone. She just has to remember that Mike is with Will, and she and Joyce are going to figure this out. She can’t be angry right now.

“What can you do for my son?” Joyce asks.

* * *

“It’s strange,” Will says, and Mike rolls over to look at him.

“What is?” he asks.

Will shrugs, setting aside his book. “I don’t know. The way everything feels, I guess.” Mike’s confusion must be present on his face, because Will sighs. “I mean, I know that I know things. I just can’t remember what it is I know. Does that make sense?”

“Kind of?”

“Like this book,” Will posits. “ _House of Stairs_. I know I know it. It’s been on my shelf for… years, I think. But I can’t remember anything about it.” He taps the cover. “So, I’m reading it for the first time again."

Mike purses his lips. “I remember you talking about that book. You thought it was brilliant.”

Will shrugs. “To be honest, I’m still enjoying it, but I think it’s a little derivative.”

Mike honestly doesn’t care about the book. He’s never read it, though his own copy has sat on a shelf in his room per Will’s request. But to hear Will criticize something that Mike never thought he would…

“What else do you feel is like that?”

Because apparently Mike likes to torture himself.

Will hums, flopping onto his back. His legs dangle off the side of his bed. “Well, I guess I know I have a dad, but I can’t really seem to remember much about him.”

“You don’t seem that upset, by that,” Mike notices. Honestly, Lonnie Byers is probably a good thing to forget.

“I can’t remember my mom’s birthday,” Will smiles ruefully. “Kinda feel bad about that.”

“Just write it down somewhere.”

“Yeah.” Will lets out a sharp breath. “Mike?”

Mike doesn’t trust himself to answer, so instead he lets his hand rest on Will’s wrist.

“I know you’re my friend, and that’s why I didn’t want to tell you,” Will says, barely above a whisper, and Mike just lets one of his fingers run down Will’s palm, trying to soothe him, and a spark of static pops on his skin. The silence stretches on for just a moment too long, until Will finally breaks it. “I can’t remember how we met.”

And, god, that feels like a bullet to the heart.

His finger stops its movements on Will’s hand. “Will…”

“I’m sorry,” Will blurts out. “Really, Mike, I’m sorry.”

“It’s—” Mike has to cut himself off to cough, clearing is throat. He _won’t_ cry. “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, we’re gonna fix this.”

“What if we can’t?” Will asks, and _no_ , Mike is having none of that.

He squeezes Will’s hand. “We will.”

* * *

El slips away from the meeting. She manages to evade the guards and turns the security cameras just enough for her to clear a path to the fourth floor.

She’s following her internal compass, the one that doesn’t point North but instead at psychic energy sources. Sure enough, she turns that final corner and is faced with the case—the prison for the Mind Flayer.

She approaches it cautiously, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of it. Before she can think too much about what she’s doing, she presses her hand to the metal and closes her eyes.

 **_Eleven,_ ** she hears in her head. **_How lovely to see you._ **

_Cut the bullshit,_ she replies. _What did you do to Will?_

Something akin to laughter echoes between her ears. **_Oh, no, little Eleven. What you’re thinking of? I didn’t do that._ **

_Well you sure did_ something _, or else he wouldn’t be like this!_

 ** _No, Eleven,_** the monster says condescendingly. **_I wouldn’t hurt William. I wanted to use him as a vehicle, after all. No, it was actually_** **you** ** _who did this to him._**

El shakes her head. _I don’t even know what’s wrong with him. How could I do anything?_

 **_Well,_ ** the monster begins smugly, **_I was in the process of bonding with William when_ ** **you** **_so rudely pulled me out of his head. Would an analogy help? Say I was doing surgery on dear William’s brain, but_ ** **you** **_stopped the procedure halfway through. Yes, he lived, but not all of him remained intact._ **

_That analogy doesn’t explain where that missing piece of him went._

**_True,_ ** the monster admits. **_I suppose you could think of it as all of the blood and brain bits that stick to a doctor’s scrubs. Our connection lingers. Pieces of him are trapped in here, with me._ ** Though the Mind Flayer isn’t a corporeal being, she can somehow hear the vindicated smile in the next sentence. **_And you’re the one who locked them up._ **

El yanks back her hand. She needs to talk to Will.

* * *

“Anyone else got AP Chem fourth this year?” Max asks, squinting at her schedule, newly arrived in the mail.

The Party has gathered around Mike’s new large table in the basement, papers and battered books strewn about.

“No,” Lucas says sympathetically, sliding a textbook across the table. “Took it last year. You can have my book, though.”

“Bio Lab fourth?” El calls from the couch, where she and Will are sprawled out.

"Yeah,” Dustin says, and El cheers.

“I have my old bio textbook in Mike’s room,” Will offers. “Left it up there once. I’ll go get it.” He hauls himself off of the couch and takes the stairs two at a time.

Max sees the way Mike’s eyes watch him go. She coughs. “Why is his book in your room?”

Mike flushes slightly under her prodding gaze. “We were studying there right before finals. He left his book, and I guess never needed it back.” He shrugs. “AP US History sixth, anyone?”

They continue to compare schedules and swap books, and Max pays little mind when Will finally walks back down.

“Sorry, I kind of forgot where the stairs were,” Will says sheepishly, handing his textbook to Dustin.

Max spots a flash of worry in Mike’s eyes—for good reason, seeing as Will has been coming to his house for more than ten years. “Hey, Will,” she says, hoping to distract them. “Do you have lunch fifth period?”

He turns to look at her, and the moment their eyes lock Max knows something is wrong.

“Uh… yeah, I do,” he says slowly. He awkwardly looks away from her and slumps back onto the couch. And—oh.

“Will,” Max says again, a horrible realization dawning on her. “Will, what’s my name?”

El tries to duck into Will’s gaze, but he shifts away, focusing on a point near Max’s left ear. He swallows. “I don’t know.”

* * *

“It’s not working,” Will says.

They’re sitting on a bench at the park, and the faintest hints of autumn are making themselves known though school hasn’t even started yet—a few brown leaves have fallen at their feet.

Mike doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know how.

“The pills, the shots, my powers, none of it is working,” Will reiterates. When Mike doesn’t respond again, Will leans into his space. “I can’t even make a lightbulb _flicker_.”

“I know, Will,” Mike finally says.

“Where’s El?” Will asks after a moment. “I had something important to tell you guys.”

“She had an emergency call at the Lab,” Mike says, barely stopping himself from asking Will if he remembers—because obviously he doesn’t. “You said you and I should meet up anyway.”

“Right, right.” Mike knows Will doesn’t actually know. He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket. “I wrote it down, just in case. You know, I—”

“Just tell me, Will,” Mike says, because Will is clearly stalling.

“Right.” Will coughs. “El said that there’s still one sample left of the serum. It was the prototype, but it’s close enough to the final version.”

Mike frowns. “Okay, but that still doesn’t help. The Mind Flayer isn’t possessing you anymore—”

“But I _need_ it to,” Will cuts him off.

Mike feels his jaw fall open. “ _What_? Are you crazy?”

“No, listen,” Will pleads. “The Mind Flayer has all of the missing parts of my brain, right? It has to bond with me, all the way this time, and then someone can give me the serum. If we remove the Mind Flayer, _properly_ , I should be back to normal.

“Will, that’s a huge risk,” Mike points out. “We don’t know for sure if that’ll happen. And if the Mind Flayer somehow manages to keep a hold on you—”

“We have to try!” Will bursts, and Mike’s voice dies out. Will takes a breath. “I’m getting worse every day. How long until I can’t remember how to speak? How to walk? Forget about what we did as kids, I’m not going to remember _anything_."

Will’s eyes are dark and angry. It’s like looking at a stranger—a stranger wearing his best friend’s face.

And, god, this is maybe the hardest thing Mike’s ever had to do. “I don’t want that for you,” he admits. “I don’t want you to be in danger, but… I want you to be Will again.”

Will smiles sadly at him. “Me, too.”

They’re outside, and Mike knows the risks involved, so he refrains from taking Will’s hand. Instead, he stretches out his pinky, letting it cross over Will’s where it lies on the bench. “Let’s go tell El.”

Will nods in agreement. “Where is she, anyway?”

* * *

“Are you ready?” Dr. Owens asks from behind the glass, Joyce, Lucas, Dustin, and Max gathered around him.

“Ready,” El replies, shaking out her hands. It’s terrifying to be letting the monster they’ve capture back out, even if it is to help a friend.

“Remember, Eleven, as soon as Michael injects the serum you have to push it back into the box.” Owens’ voice is grave.

Mike, on the other hand, just looks pale. He’s clutching the syringe filled with prototype serum in his hand, so hard his knuckles are turning white. He hadn’t wanted to do this, El knows that, but Will had said that someone he trusted had to do it or else the Mind Flayer would kill them. Joyce burst into tears at the very suggestion—and Mike had, stone-faced, volunteered.

“Okay,” she says. _Will, you okay?_ she asks silently.

 _I will be,_ he replies bluntly. “Open it,” he says out loud.

Owens presses a button, and the shadow seeps out.

* * *

“Mike,” Max says for the fiftieth time. “If you don’t stop bouncing your leg, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Sorry,” he mutters, staring down at Will’s comatose body.

It had all gone according to plan, somehow—the Mind Flayer had merged with Will, and El managed to hold him off while Mike got the serum to Will. There had been a moment there, for a moment, where Will’s blank eyes had turned on Mike, and he’d held his breath. But then Will had stilled for just a second—just long enough for Mike to stab the needle into is arm.

Now Will is lying on a hospital bed, his breathing shallow, and Mike feels horribly guilty.

“You did what he wanted you to do,” El murmurs, and Mike flinches when he realizes she can hear his thoughts.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t hate it,” he replies, trying to mentally hum a tune to block out El.

Of course, since he’s staring at Will’s sleeping face, the noteless melody quickly transforms into something familiar.

 _Should I stay or should I go now_ , his mind muses, and Will’s eyes blink open.

“Why do I hear the Clash?” he rasps, his slow and sluggish mouth slurring his words.

Mike can’t help it—he starts laughing.

* * *

“Kindergarten,” Will says, and Mike rolls over to face him—just like always.

They’re sprawled out on Mike’s bed, this time. Will is on his stomach, sketching El from memory. Mike is on his back, reading _House of Stairs_ (“Finally,” Will had muttered when he walked in to find Mike with the book).

“What about it?” Mike asks, carefully folding the corner of his page.

Will shrugs. “Just thought I should tell you—I remember now. It was kindergarten, when we met.”

Mike can’t even repress his goofy grin. “Yeah. Yeah, it was. The first day.”

“Best day ever,” Will says, more to himself than to Mike, and yet.

“Me, too,” Mike replies, and with his heart in his throat he reaches out to take Will’s hand.

Will doesn’t even have the decency to look surprised, instead opting to lace their fingers together. “When I was forgetting… I always remembered you. _Always_. Maybe not the details, but. I remembered you.”

There’s a bubble of emotion trapped somewhere in Mike’s chest, and it swells with Will’s words. He squeezes his hand.

Yeah. They’re gonna be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are, as always, appreciated.  
> find me on tumblr, my main is [@willelbyers](https://willelbyers.tumblr.com) and my writing blog is [@lowriting](https://lowriting.tumblr.com)!


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